How Much Does it Cost to Start a Blog?

There are many reasons why you’re thinking about starting a blog. You may want to write about a hobby, document memories of your adventures, provide tips about a top, or turn a blog into a business.

But before you can hit publish on your first post, there will be upfront costs to get you up and running. If you’re new to the blogging world, this can be overwhelming, but I’m here to help break down the basic costs so you can establish a budget for your first year of blogging. Knowing what your blog expenses will be, will help you plan out your year and budget for upcoming expenses. In the blog post below, I’ll break down the entire cost of each service and will also show the breakdown of cost/month.

How Much Does it Cost to Start and Run a Blog?

On-Going Blogging Costs:

Domain URL
Hosting

Yearly Cost Estimates: $60 – $100
Cost Breakdown by Month: $5 – $9 / month

Optional Blogging Costs:

Blog Theme (One-Time Cost): $80+
Paid Social Platforms (Tailwind): $12.99 / month
Blogging Course: $15+ / course

Free Services (Also Paid Options):

Email Marketing
Social Media

Will You Create a Custom Domain URL?

Take your time selecting the URL for your blog. It should be short, descriptive and easy to remember.

How did I get my name? My husband helped me out! 🙂 I planned to blog about digital marketing, sewing, DIY and lifestyle topics. So it’s a play on words – instead of streamlined living, I landed on Seamlined Living. I think it’s a fun mashup between sewing and lifestyle.

How Do I Decide Where to Build my Blog? Should I Go with a Free or Paid Hosting Platform?

Free: There are free blogging options available: blogger, wordpress.com

Pros: It’s free, so the cost is affordable
Cons: Little customization available for free plans
- Can’t customize URL
- Doesn’t look as professional

Paid: Platform free – but you need to pay for hosting.

Like WordPress.com, WordPress.org is a free content management system (CMS), but you pay for web hosting. By selecting to go this route, you have complete control over the look of your website. You can have a custom URL, design and have access to more tools for your site.

Estimated total cost for using SiteGround for a year: $75.35

Here’s a blog post I wrote about hosting options for WordPress. I’m currently using SiteGround as my hosting provider and have had no issues with hosting.

Should I Invest in Email Marketing?

The answer is yes, but you don’t have to invest money right away, just time. Mail Chimp and Constant Contact are great platforms that provide you with a variety of custom options without having to pay to email subscribers. Both of these platforms also have paid subscriptions after you reach a subscriber count.

How Do I Select a Theme for My Blog?

There are a lot of free theme options available for WordPress, but I don’t recommend going this route. If you can’t pay a web developer to build your website from scratch, I recommend purchasing a template. In my experience, it’s easier to work with paid themes. The theme I used for my blog is from Bluchic, and I highly recommend them for blogging. Plus, they provide documentation and support for all of their current themes. I have used their online resource center on numerous occasions as I attempt to troubleshoot or learn about different theme features.

Are Blogging Courses Worth it?

If you’re new to the blogging world, I highly recommend investing in courses to teach you about blogging. Yes, there are several free tools and resources online, but courses provide you with more detailed information, instructions, and tips.

Here’s a link to my FREE Resources/ blog posts.
Here’s a link to my SEO and Blogging Course

Will Using Social Media Tools Help?

Blogging takes time, dedication and time management. You’ll find that it takes more time than you think to research, schedule and plan out posts. Not to mention the time it takes to promote your blog on social media. The two tools I use to help me schedule out and manage my social media accounts are Hootsuite and Tailwind.